Capitol Hill still reeling from tragedy

Four days after a gunman killed six people, injured 14 others and rocked the Capitol Hill community, leaving one of its own in critical condition, normal is nowhere in sight for Congress.

On Wednesday, Congress set aside planned business to take up an itinerary that pulled a shocked community between matters of the heart and those of basic physical security, with a string of events that sought to soothe mournful souls and rattled nerves.

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VIDEO: Giffords makes 'major leap forward'

POLITICO 44

The House introduced a resolution condemning the assassination attempt, opening the floor to heartfelt speeches from each side of the aisle. Both chambers were briefed in the business of improving security.

“Today, we are called here to mourn,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said on the floor. “An unspeakable act of violence has taken six innocent lives and left several more — including our colleague Gabrielle Giffords — battling for theirs. These are difficult hours for our country.”

The resolution “condemns in the strongest possible terms” the violence on Saturday and “reaffirms the bedrock principle of American democracy” of the right to free assembly, a theme that members wove into their tributes on the floor.

Republicans and Democrats alternated in mourning those who died, wishing survivors well, thanking the efforts of first responders and reminding their colleagues that Giffords was fulfilling the fundamental task of a representative democracy: meeting with her constituents back home.

The attacks “are an assault on open ideas between legislators and the people they’re accountable to,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Wednesday.

Members of the Arizona delegation offered their words, following House leaders. Republicans and Democrats alike spoke of Giffords’s congeniality, smarts, wit — and grit.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) said he and Giffords have joked about their differences but never exchanged an ill word. He concluded that he hopes “God returns a smiling Gabby Giffords to this chamber.”

Some House members also attended a bipartisan prayer service, a private event closed to the media.

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer read a unifying passage from the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ,” the Maryland Democrat read. “For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body — whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”

But the healing tone stood in sharp contrast to the words spoken in House and Senate security briefings.

Ed Rindall was right, we are a nation of wussies! I feel so sad for the people that were killed and their families, but there are people who are living and paying congress.. In the real world you get 3 paid days off for the loss of a child or parent, we don't have the luxuary to mourn forever. Get back to work.

What a sorry group our elected representatives are. Carry a gun on the House floor? Visitors are screened before they can get near either Chamber. They need security between work and home? What about all the others who work in DC or elsewhere? The reportedly mentally disturbed individual did not travel to DC but committed his despicable act in his home town.

Did they huddle like this to address the unemployment problem? Did they meet when the military guy in Kuwait told Rumsfeld that they didn't have sufficient armor? No. When it comes to addressing their fears and/or concerns, there seems to be plenty of time to devote to an issue.

An attack by a reportedly derranged individual hardly constitutes an assault on the entire democratic process. Get a grip sir. Can you imagine what would happen to troops in Afghanistan if they over reacted every time a shot was fired? What would these people have done if they had to participate in a fire fight in Vietnam, or stormed the beaches in Normandy......? Isn't there a reference somewhere to the "home of the brave"?

Would prefer if they could address the issues rather than their own fears - perhaps FDR's comments on fear should be referenced.